From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Jun 23 2001 - 05:11:36 MDT
Russell Blackford wrote:
>
> However, I do say this, as clearly as I can: I understand transhumanist
> philosophy to be based upon a scientific materialist account of the
> universe, of human beings and the mind. Moreover, my own experience is that
> the more precise language we use the better. In many (I won't claim all)
> contexts, expressions of high regard for a "spiritual" dimension just play
> into the hands of irrationalists and luddites, who so often dismiss anything
> that resembles transhumanist thinking as "reductive materialism".
Once you get into *trans*human you get into a funny space with
room for
transcending many things we believe are the limits of what is
rationally
believable today. Too much of "scientific materialism" or what
passes for
this has been extremely authoritarian and limited in
explicative, value-bearing
and motivational power.
>
> My friend also passed on a rumour that Virginia Postrel has a new book
> coming out which may deal with some of this. If this is so, it will be very
> interesting to see what Postrel has to say. Can anyone confirm or disconfirm
> this?
>
> Ascend!
This is a very *spiritual* admonition, perhaps the most central
one of all
spirituality.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:08:15 MST